Personal notice, danger is my stock in trade. If the job's too tough for you to handle,
you've got a job for me, George Valentine. Write full details.
The State Oil Company of California, on behalf of independent Chevron gas stations and standard
stations throughout the West, invite you to let George do it.
Knock on wood, another adventure of George Valentine.
My dear Mr. Valentine, I need your assistance most desperately. I am a landlord. Oh, yes,
one of those poor maligned creatures who happen to own a building. Happen to? No, no, I'll
be honest. It's my life, the culmination of my desire, my only love. And I'm sure you'll
forgive my sentimentality when you realize it is none other than the Elf for a jade-liggett
golden tower apartment building. Oh, yes, I am Alfred J. Liggett. Well, Mr. Valentine,
a person of much lesser achievement is threatening my horizon. To be blunt about it, my very
reputation itself is in imminent danger. Please come quickly. I am desperate. Never in my
life has my entire fortune been so threatened. You see, I have been a very lucky man.
Knock on wood. I'm sure this is the right door. Knock louder, George. Yeah. Pretty
plush around here. It's a quiet house, mister. No need to make a lot of racket. Huh? Boss
will hear you. No need for excitement. Are you the janitor? Yes, you dropped that cigarette
wrapper by mistake. Oh, no, we didn't drop anything. Try to keep it nice and clean. Tenants
like it that way. No pets or children, you know. Wastebasket at the end of every hall
in case you have any more trouble. Oh, Mr. Liggett? Oh, Mr. Valentine and Miss Brooks.
Come in, come in quickly, please. Yes, please. Sure. We've just been blackballed by your
janitor. Newton. Oh, he's a wonderful fellow. Salt of the earth. Old fashioned conscientiousness.
You don't find them like that anymore. Keeps everything clean as a whistle, night and day.
I can imagine. The Golden Tower must be a very homey place to live. Why, thank you,
Miss Brooks. Oh, yes, yes indeed. We pride ourselves on all. Mr. Liggett, what's your
problem? You wrote you've got trouble. What is it? Mr. Valentine, it's the fifteenth floor
of the apartment. I'm at a complete loss. Well, I made a dreadful mistake two months ago when
I leased it and now he's come back again. He goes away for a time but now he's come back
again. Mr. Valentine, I tell myself nothing will happen. I've always been very lucky.
But no, no, it's gone beyond mere hoping. What has? Who has? What are you talking about?
To be quite blunt, I am persecuted and beset by an undesirable tenant. Oh. But the complaint
isn't really mine, you understand. I'm a tolerant fellow. I'm very tolerant. Well, I'm sure you
are. But it's the tenant in 16A, the next floor, right over here. And there's the rub.
Look, Mr. Liggett, you've lost me. One of my oldest tenants, 16A, a most delightful
woman. So wealthy, but no sham, no pretense. And naturally I must consider her first, mustn't
I? You've got problems. You figure them out. Mr. Valentine, listen. She complains. I don't
blame her for complaining. This man who lives under her, he's a lot more than just a trial
and a nuisance. What on earth could you expect us to do? Well, he's a lot bigger than I am.
Bigger than Nusen or both of us roll together. I want you to talk to the lady. That's Mrs.
Fairchild. And then talk to him. I'm sorry, Mr. Liggett, but this man is a criminal. Doesn't
that interest you? A criminal? Yes, yes he is. Since he swindled me into a lease, I've
discovered he's actually been to prison. Yes, twice. He's a gambler. He's notorious. And
to have him right here in my beloved tower, he calls himself Sidebet Sinclair. Oh, Sidebet
Sinclair. Ah, his name does mean something to me. Yes, there you see. And Mr. Valentine,
this person has clearly stated that if Mrs. Fairchild dares to complain about him once
more, he will wring her neck like a chicken.
Excuse the bathroom, lady. Would have warned my good one if I'd have known you was coming.
One with eggs Benedict on it. Ha ha ha. You get up for the night, Mr. Sinclair. So do
your jokes. Well, I live like a king, what do you think? And if Santa Anita cleaned up,
that to collect a few debts, that's all. Why not enjoy yourself? Only live once? Ha ha.
You should see my bathroom. That's my office. Oh, I tell you, I never had it so good. Yeah,
well, I'm only here because I'm sucker enough to- Because of her up there, old lady Fairchild?
Ha ha ha ha ha ha. Boy, have I got those people, Buffalo. What did she say about me? Well,
we decided to reverse the order and ask you first. I can imagine you're not much to live
over. He he he. Wring her neck. I'll wring her neck. That's what I'll do. I'm straight
with the law, Valentine. Everybody's happy except the ones who owe me money. Oh, now
relax. Have a bottle of soda pop. I beg your pardon? I got an ulcer. Serve root beer at
these. Ha ha ha. Big, riotous, underworld parties. And you know what they're like. You
bend the boogies. Is that her complaint? You know what she does? She knocks, like this.
Raps on the floor, see? With her key. I tell you, it kills people. You wouldn't believe
it. I think I might. Okay, Buster, it's just a joke to you, huh? Well, what's it to you?
This is a pretty silly job you're doing, you know. Never mind. At least I could enjoy throwing
you out if I had to. You're pretty funny yourself. You think I'm a little out of my place here,
huh? Well, you want to make a little side bet on what you decide to do after you talk
to her? Or on whom is liable to get killed by who? Ha ha ha. Oh, go take your bath. Come
on, Brooksie.
Oh, these crispy crunches. I just love them for breakfast, don't you? Sure, sure, Mrs.
Fairchild. Just adore them. I'm saving the box tops, you know. Not much left for a poor
little lady like me to do. People don't realize. We only wanted to know about Mr. Sinclair.
Yeah, and then we'll leave quickly. Oh, no. You stay and talk to me. That's what you do.
Soon as I finish my breakfast, we'll all have coffee. About your complaint regarding Mr.
Sinclair, just please... Oh, Sinclair. You know, he's an awful man. He's simply awful.
And poor dear Mr. Liggett worries about it so. I tell you, sometimes parties down there
last until eleven or twelve at night. Sounds pretty simple. I beg your pardon? Young man,
you're not defending... Oh, no, no, no, no. Of course not. But he himself doesn't drink,
apparently. Oh, no. They're not that kind of parties. And this place is such thick carpets
and heavy construction, I can't imagine you can hear much from down there, can you? For
instance, his radio was playing just a second ago, but I don't hear it now, do you? Oh,
but you can hear it with a glass on the floor. What? Well, you put a glass on the floor and
put your ear down against the glass. Didn't you ever do that? Well, for the love of...
Oh, aren't you old enough maybe yet to admit it? Well, here I show you. I'm sorry, lady,
but that doesn't... Oh, will it take a minute? Never mind. Come on, Angel, we're getting
out of here. I want to go down and knock on the wooden head of that landlord. No, wait.
I'm showing you. Oh, my, the things I hear. Aren't you interested in that? Things about
the underworld? Here, help me. I'm not very steady. I bet they talk mostly about women.
Mrs. Fairchild, I wouldn't care if they talked in pig laughing to the ghost of Julius Caesar.
Oh, I'm sorry, dear. You don't care that he's liable to bring my neck? Is that it? Here,
here, sit down again. I'm sorry, but frankly, Mrs. Fairchild... No, no, I'm all right. Yes,
it brings my neck. Now, I know it's silly, but it is exciting, don't you think? And for
a lonely woman, there's so, so little excite... George, catch her. She was wobbling. I knew
something was wrong with her. George, I'll phone Liggett to get a doctor. Skip it. She
didn't faint. She's dead. All right, Doc, hurry it up. Hurry it up. Rest of the crew
will be here in a minute. She was just talking to us, Lieutenant. I know, and down she went.
Well, at her age, what do you... Nothing to do with it. Huh? It was the milk, not age.
That's my first guess. Smells like it. What do you mean, Doctor? She was only eating cold
cereal. And milk, milk, milk. Heh. With enough poison in it to kill off a herd of buffalo.
Poison. Whole bottles that way. And it must have been delivered early this morning and
sat outside her door where practically anybody could have... The thing is about the underworld.
Huh? What she heard. She was a snoop. I wonder if she really did hear anything important,
Brooksie. What she heard might have been the reason for this, you mean? Hey, hey, where
are you going? To bring a guy up here, Johnson. A guy who just might have been kidding about
something he really meant. Here we are, George. Oh. Hello. You coming to see the great side
better, too? Yeah, ring the bell, will you? That's what I'm doing. Your eyes bad or something?
I'm in a hurry, that's all. Here, let me hear. I don't hear the bell. What'd he do, disconnected
or something? Little disconnected himself. You a friend of
Sinclair's Buster? The name's Hale, if you don't mind. Hale, but
not Hardy. He doesn't have any friends. I'm a new lawyer. I collect debts for him. I'm
crazy. So am I. So is he. Got more people owing him money than the Department of Internal
Revenue. He thinks it's funny. He thinks everything's funny. Yeah, well, there's a little
matter upstairs you might not laugh off. Sinclair, where are you? Hey. He must have gone out,
George. He's certainly not. Hey, where are you, lady? What? His office is in the bathroom.
The bathtub. Oh, well, excuse me. What are you talking about? Telephone, reading stand,
cigar and all. Yeah, and the radio. Only it's not playing now, is it? Holy mackerel. Don't
touch him. Yeah, side bed himself, taking a bath. But here, help me, the guy. You can't
help him, he's dead. And he didn't just drown either. When a radio is fixed like this and
falls into a bathtub, it's called electrocution. We'll return to tonight's adventure of George
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for it at standard stations and independent Chevron gas stations where they say, and mean,
we take better care of your car. And now back to tonight's adventure of George
Valentine. If you want good luck, then knock on wood. That's what Mr. Liggett does, the
proud owner and manager of the beautiful Golden Tower Apartments. And look at the luck it
brings him. The woman in 16A, Mrs. Fairchild, is killed by poison. And now only a few minutes
later, another of his tenants, a slightly different sort of person known as Sidebet
Sinclair, is dead too on the 15th floor. Only this wasn't a poisoning. If your name is George
Valentine, the way you'd put it is that when a radio is fixed like this and falls into
a bathtub, it's called electrocution. It's called murder, you mean. Well, where is it?
Through here, Johnson. Here we are. That's what it was, all right, Lieutenant. Radio
falling in a tub gives a shark big enough to kill off a herd of buffalo. You're repeating
yourself, Doctor. You said that about Mrs. Fairchild's poison. Still true. Oh, not that
you could get that many buffalo into a bathtub. All right, all of you, clear out. Well, is
that man dead? Not you, Doc. Stay there. I just phoned for an extra crew to help you.
I just want to know. Come on, everybody, please. Nothing to be curious about. This is the building
we live in. What's going on? We certainly deserve an explanation. Did any of you see
anybody come into Mr. Sinclair's room in the last quarter hour? All right, then. All right.
It's all under control. Nothing for anybody to worry about. That's it. That's it. We'll
call on any of you that we need. That's it. You'd better get that lawyer, though, Lieutenant.
Mr. Hale, that friend of Sinclair. Oh, yeah, yeah. Take care of it, Sergeant. Oh, brother,
what a day this is turning out to be. No sooner one happens than... Hey, easy, Johnson. It's
all under control. Nothing to worry about. Valentine, I admire your courage, but there
isn't time for sarcasm. Why not? These two deaths are certainly linked up together, aren't
they? Of course, of course they are. Simple as a Chinese puzzle, a snoopy little woman
and a big-time gambler. I'm just surprised they weren't both murdered the same way. No,
you're doing it. Okay, Johnson, but look at what you know so far. The old lady did hear
things, maybe, from Sinclair's apartment here, and Sinclair himself must have certainly had
enemies. So Sinclair was up to something and Mrs. Fairchild heard it, and it was so important
that the person who was involved kill both of them. Sure, sure. It doesn't make much
sense, does it, George? Sinclair was too smart to go yelling about things and she wouldn't
have understood anything she heard anyway. They're tied up together in some way. Both
done in by the same crackpot, if you ask me. Huh? Let you in. Oh, hello. The janitor,
lieutenant. Name's Newton. Your sergeant called me. Only I got work I should be doing. Every
fuse box in the whole place blown out, you know that? Lucky you didn't catch the whole
building on fire, that Sinclair. Wait a minute. What did you say about a crackpot? Just what
the other tenants are saying out in the hall. Nice, peaceful place until you got here. Everything
neat and clean. Well, it's obvious, isn't it? Some mad man or lunatic. Well, don't wave
your finger at me. I'm not going to argue with you. Well, I am. Newton, who delivers
the milk here? What? Facts, come on. Who delivered a bottle of Dutch farm Guernsey to Mrs. Fairchild's
door upstairs? Same man's done it for ten years. Who do you think? I've already started
on that line through the dairy, Valentine. Name's Frank something. Makes a lot of deliveries
in the building. Too dumb to be mixed up in anything. You see him come in? Of course I
did. I see everybody come in. You what? You heard me. Nightman's been sick the past week.
I've been on duty. Where? Lobby. Propped up in a chair right next to the elevator. Well,
whom did you see? Nobody. Milkman, that's all. What of it? Inside. Somebody from inside.
Uh-huh, maybe. And the milkman's probably all right. So somebody must have tampered with
that milk in the hall after he delivered it. Lunatic. Crackpot. And today maybe the same
person came in here and gave Sinclair's radio a shove. Only that'd have to be somebody who
could come in without surprising him, right? He always left the door open. That's not what
I mean. Somebody who knew his habits, that's all. Like the other. Somebody right here from
this building. From it? You mean in it, don't you? In it. Right now.
Now look, Mr. Valentine, I can't help you tie these two things together. You're trying
to add sheep and goats. That Fairchild woman. From you, I just want to know about Sinclair,
Mr. Hale. Well, Lieutenant Johnson just ran past me there in the hall and he didn't die
too. Well, he decided he'd better run a fast check of the other tenants. Mr. Liggett's
with him. People hated side bet. I told you that. A lot of characters and debt to him,
huh? Sure. With plenty of reason to kill him. Self-defense practically for anybody to kill
Sinclair. A very unpleasant man. Gambler who always collected. Had a smile like a death
warrant. You're his lawyer. You should know. I just got the job, Miss. Big money. I'm a
man with ideals. Big money, sure. But stay on the rails. Any of those characters in the
building in trouble with Sinclair? They mean any of them live here? No, I don't think so.
And if one of them did do it, how do you explain that woman upstairs who? He doesn't yet, Mr.
Hale, one thing at a time. No, both things at once. Stubborn type, isn't it? I don't
believe in crackpot killings. There's a neat simple explanation for everything. Mr. Valentine,
Mr. Valentine. Mr. Leggett, George. Right here. Mr. Valentine, 16A, 15A. What's your
trouble, friend? What am I going to do my whole life? What about 16 and 15A? Get your
breath, will you? I thought you were with Johnson. I came to get you. He's downstairs
in 14A. There's another woman there. Dead. The woman in 14A, who was she? A woman, that's
all. There's no possible connection. She's a school teacher, Mr. Hale, and she lives
here. Hey, hey, wait a minute. The elevator's down this way. No, no, no. This is faster.
You don't have to wait. Just straight ahead. It's the way we went before. But what happened
to this woman? What did she... Strangled, just a few minutes ago. She'd just gone to
answer her door, apparently, and someone was there. And it happened. A few minutes ago,
I tell you, there's someone in the... Calm down, will you, Leggett? Here, this door.
What's this, fire stairs? Yes, yes. Come on, come on. Be careful, the railing. Hold it.
Go on, Valentine. The stairs are too narrow. Wait a second. Stop, both of you. Yes, but
Lieutenant Johnson is... He'll live without us for a second. You like the view or something?
Are you trying to make yourself dizzy looking down? Skip it, Hale. I used these stairs before.
This is an inside fire escape, isn't it? Only those doors to it aren't locked. Well, not
in a building like this. Where does it end? That's what I'm trying to see. The back hall
by the alley. Is that door locked? Down there, I mean. Well, no, as a matter of fact. Oh,
for heaven's sake, Valentine, at a time like this... Somebody could have come in this way
last night, couldn't he? To climb up here and tamper with some milk without being seen?
And down below, Newton in the lobby by the elevators wouldn't have seen him. All right,
you saw him. But now let's get out. Okay, let's, let's move. Three murders, all in a
row. You think he'll stop at three? Oh, be quiet, both of you. I can't stand it.
Liggett, what are the rest of the facts on this? Oh, leave him alone. He's knocking on
wood to stop a fourth. Please, I said. A concrete place like this, he'd have to use his own
head for that. Oh, stop it. Stop it. Don't talk like that. Maybe you're right. Maybe there
will be a fourth murder. No, there won't. There can't be. Lieutenant Johnson has more
police coming. They'll be here any minute. Wait, Mr. Hill. Don't push. But isn't this
the door to the next floor? It isn't marked. Neither are the apartments I noticed. Just
A, B, or C. But of course it's 14. Come on, hurry up. I like it better here. So do you
guys. Besides, whatever fourth murder there is is liable to be right here, isn't it? What
did you say? Come on. Let's keep on moving downstairs. But this is the floor. Mr. Liggett,
you're liable to be the fourth corpse unless you shut up. Bravo. Listen, I'm not interested
in that third one because that's a murder that'll convince everyone forever that these
are some sort of madman killings. Right? Three in a row running right down a building. Of
course it's madman. But what did you say? So suppose instead it was just a brutal cold
buttered job to make people think that. Now come on downstairs. Here. Mr. Valentine. This
woman was strangled though. I'm interested in that. There are tests they can run, you
know, on a man's hands. They can do it soon enough. Will you please explain what you're
talking about? Mr. Liggett, you're a superstitious guy, aren't you? Knock on wood. And you own
this building. For the love of- I'm making sense, friend. Just like this fire well does.
Meaning that an outsider could be the murderer. Meaning me? Well, so could anyone who lived
in the building or owned it or- I don't think so. Hale, your so-called client, Sinclair,
had an ulcer, didn't he? I guess he might have had milk delivered every night too. Seems
logical. People who plan a killing by poison usually don't make mistakes, I know, but they
could if they didn't live here. If you walked up these steps last night, for instance, and
counted as you walked, and made a mistake, and discovered it today, and corrected it
by killing Sinclair, you pretended you were just going into his place, Hale, when we bumped
into you there. Easiest thing to do, I guess, if you're caught just on your way out.
Liggett, what would you think of a detective? Oh, be quiet. Sit down. Yeah, well, I'll just
sit here. On the twelfth floor landing. Yeah. Sixteen, fifteen, fourteen, twelve. Well,
you know, you know, it's so difficult to rent. Many- Yeah, I know, but Hale here didn't.
Counted the floors and ended up one floor too high. Put poison in the wrong bottle.
Mrs. Fairchild. Didn't skip thirteen. No, thirteen floor. Should have knocked on wood.
What's that? Oh, some of those extra policemen, I guess. Maybe there's a lab man with them,
Hale. We can sit and wait for that test I talked about. You're saying I, did it, any
number of people could have- All right, we'll, we'll wait for the-
Ridiculous, we will not. I'm getting out of here. Hey, Mr. Valentine, don't let him go.
Get out of my way, all right? No, no, no, Buster, you, you wouldn't put another desperation
murder with all those witnesses coming up, would you? I said-
All right, all right, just, just take it easy. No, he can get out in the hall. He can take
the elevator to another floor. Why, he can- Oh, no, he can't. The elevator won't work.
What? What do you mean? Of course it'll work. Uh-uh. No, it's, it's an electric elevator,
isn't it? Now, don't get sore, Hale. You did it yourself, you know. It, it was your murdering
Sinclair half an hour ago that, well, as Newton put it, blew out every fuse box in the joint.
It's a little ironic, isn't it?
But, George, how did you guess there wasn't any 13th floor in that building?
That's quite common, Angel. Keep your eyes open. Notice the elevator, the elevator buttons
next time. Only, uh, maybe you won't notice if you climb up the fire stairs.
Oh, I don't understand how Hale could have- Well, on Mrs. Fairchild, he made the mistake.
Oh. Wrong floor, wrong bottle of milk. Seems, uh, he was the one who owed Sinclair all that
money, and he was afraid for his own neck, so he decided to kill him. Next day, he did.
Only, we practically caught him at it without knowing.
Well, he didn't act nervous or anything. Hale was desperate, Brooksie. Yeah, we, we would
have found out it was a mistake in pretty short order, you know. So he slipped off and
committed another murder just to cover- Sure, the bloodhounds would have gone off in the
opposite direction fast, maniac on the loose. No time to look for rhymes or reasons.
But he wasn't nervous or anything. I mean, I noticed he got lost in the shuffle there
for a few minutes, too, but I- Well, why does a murderer have to act like one? People don't
always betray themselves, you know. They don't spill their emotions all over the place.
They don't spill their emotions all over- Oh. Well, some people certainly don't.
I don't know why you always expect them to. You don't think I'm gonna rise to that, do
you? Well, I can sit here just as cold-blooded and showing nothing.
Oh, sure, Angel? For just about that long every time. Never
longer. I hope. Knock on wood. When you're out driving on the highway,
there's nothing like having a clean windshield and a clean rear window every mile of the
way. For clear vision, ahead and behind means greater driving comfort as well as greater
personal safety. And helping you have clear vision is the speedy service offered to you
at all standard stations and independent Chevron gas stations. Here you'll notice the men take
pride in doing a thorough spick and span job on your windshield and that they're glad to
offer you this service whenever you want it with no obligation on your part.
Windshield care is but one of a number of car saver services that are given as a regular
procedure at these gas stations. Use them every day and every day you'll enjoy your
motoring. And remember, you're never far from an independent Chevron gas station or a
standard station where they say and mean, we take better care of your car.
Tonight's adventure of George Valentine has been brought to you by Standard Oil Company
of California on behalf of independent Chevron gas stations and standard stations throughout
the West. Owing to the illness of Robert Bailey, the part of George was played tonight by Ken
Peters. Virginia Gregg as Brooksy. Let George Do It is written by David Victor and Jackson
Gillis and directed by Don Clark. Ken Christie as Lieutenant Johnson. John McIntyre was heard
as Hale. Howard McNeer as Liggett. Jeanette Nolan as Mrs. Fairchild. Joe DeVall as Sinclair.
And Fred Howard as Newton. The music is composed and presented by Eddie Dunstetter. Your
announcer, John Heaston. Listen again next week, same time, same station, to Let George
Do It. Let George Do It is heard overseas through the worldwide facilities of the Armed
Forces Radio Service. This is the Mutual Don Lee Broadcasting System.